WINDEMERE, Fla. – Tiger Woods appears to be on the road to recovery again, only it’s no longer a question of how soon before he reaches full speed.

There are a lot more cars on the road now.

Faster ones, too.

Woods acknowledged as much before the Hero World Challenge began when he jokingly said, “Father Time remains undefeated.”

He still has plenty of power when he’s healthy and swings freely. But there’s a long list of players who hit it farther.

“We all eventually are losing some of the things we are able to do when we were younger,” Woods said. “But there’s other ways to go around a golf course. … You can win at a very late age because you don’t have to physically dominate anybody. You don’t have to physically beat anybody. You just have to beat the golf course.”

That’s a recipe for winning, but not for being the best in the sport.

That label belongs to 25-year-old Rory McIlroy, an undisputed title at the moment. The most consistent threat in the majors this year was 25-year-old Rickie Fowler, who played in the final group twice and finished in the top five in all of them.

The latest arrival is 21-year-old Jordan Spieth, who showed off his potential not because of the fields he beat (strength or size) but because of the stamps in his passport. In three weeks in three corners of the world, Spieth finished one shot out of a playoff in Japan, won by six shots in the Australian Open against a field that included McIlroy and Adam Scott, and then overwhelmed an 18-man field of top-50 players in Florida with a 10-shot victory.

One of the more telling comments after he won at Isleworth was how Spieth defined his target.

“In order to take it to the next level and try and win majors, I’ve got to look to Rory,” Spieth said. “He’s the youngest guy, the one with the most success. He’s No. 1 in the world and setting the bar. He’s the one we’re all chasing.”

Woods is now part of the chase.

He did not say where he would start in 2015, but here’s a sobering thought: If Woods does not play better than he did at Isleworth, there’s a mathematical chance he’ll fall out of the top 50 by March and not be eligible for the first World Golf Championship at Doral.

This isn’t the first time Woods has returned from an injury-induced layoff. But it’s the first time he is coming back from injury and retooling his swing under a new coach. This could take time, and that’s something Woods doesn’t have at this stage in his career. He turns 39 at the end of the month.

Can he get back to where he was? Probably not.

Can he get back to No. 1 in the world? Certainly. The last time he was in this position, it took five victories for Woods to climb back to No. 1, along with a mini-slump by McIlroy. Both are capable of doing that again.

Woods is so popular as a golfer, and he demands so much attention, that it’s easy to fall into a trap of measuring his progress without considering the rest of the field.

When he opened with a 77 at Isleworth, it was easy to blame that on rust because he had not faced any competition since the PGA Championship. Except that Steve Stricker had not played since the PGA and he opened with a 67.

Woods made progress in the second round. He was attacking. He was making birdies. He was 4 under through 16 holes, which ordinarily would seem like a good score. Except that the guy playing alongside him, Patrick Reed, was 9 under through 16 holes.

The competition has never been deeper – and as it relates to Woods, younger.

He is responsible for that. Most of these rising stars, if not all, grew up watching Woods destroy his competition. They learned by watching him. It was different for an older generation of players who only saw Woods when he arrived on the PGA Tour, and then didn’t know what hit them.

“He was the best anyone had seen,” Reed said. “He was so much better than anyone else at the time. With me growing up and watching that, I tried to copy his mental strength and go from there.”

And how does one copy mental strength?

“Be stubborn,” Reed said. “Focus on what you’re doing and not anyone around you. You could see it just by looking at him in the eyes. If looks could kill, he would literally kill you. It’s not because he’s not a good guy. He was just so focused and determined to play well. And he obviously gets it. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

WINDERMERE, Fla. — Jordan Spieth won the Hero World Challenge with a performance tournament host Tiger Woods could appreciate.

Staked to a seven-shot lead, Spieth blew away an elite field at Isleworth and set two tournament records Sunday when he closed with a 6-under 66 for a 10-shot victory over Henrik Stenson of Sweden.

From three birdies on his opening four holes, punctuated by a hybrid hit perfectly to 12 feet for eagle on the par-5 seventh, Spieth turned the final round into a casual walk along the lakes and palatial homes of Isleworth.

He glanced over at a leaderboard when he made the turn and saw that he was up by 11 shots. And then he made another birdie.

“It was the most fun I ever had playing nine holes of golf,” Spieth said.

The 21-year-old from Texas won his second straight tournament in dominant fashion. Spieth won the Australian Open last week by six, and even a trip halfway around the world didn’t slow his momentum.

He finished at 26-under 262, breaking the tournament record of 266 set by Woods in 2007 and Davis Love III in 2000, both of those scores at Sherwood Country Club in California. His 10-shot margin of victory broke Woods’ record.

Woods, in his first tournament in four months while recovering from back injuries, stubbed two more chips on the 13th hole for a triple bogey and closed with a 72. He tied for last place in the 18-man field with Hunter Mahan, 26 shots out of the lead.

Woods noted that Spieth closed with a 63 in Australia and flew some 9,000 miles to get to Isleworth.

“He’s playing some pretty special golf right now,” Woods said.

Spieth completes his second full year as a pro by moving into the top 10 in the world ranking at No. 9. The Hero World Challenge is not an official PGA Tour event, so the $1 million prize does not count toward the money list.

Spieth won by eight shots at Isleworth just three years ago, when he was still in college at Texas.

He had never had such a big lead going into the final round, and there are numerous examples of players who lose ground by trying to protect it.

Spieth came out swinging. He set a target of wanting to lead by 10 shots, and he got there with two of his best shots.

After flinching in the middle of his drive on No. 7 when a camera went off, he hit hybrid toward the left edge of the green, and it fed perfectly off the slope and trickled onto the green. Keegan Bradley two-putted for birdie to get within eight shots, and then Spieth poured in his putt to go up by 10.

Bradley was headed for the eighth tee, when he reversed course and walked over to Spieth to playfully body-slam him. Bradley’s caddie, Steve Hale, walked off the green and said, “If we can’t beat him, we can at least mess with his bag.”

Hale undid the strap on Spieth’s bag and moved it to a different location to make it shorter. Spieth’s caddie, Michael Greller, was so wrapped up in the round that for the next two hours, he never noticed.

Stenson played with Spieth Saturday, and knew what to expect.

“He was in pretty much full control of every part of his game,” Stenson said. “He drove it nicely, hit some good iron shots and his pitching and putting was phenomenal. So it was a one-horse race coming into Sunday. All the rest of us had to do was battle it out for second, really.”

Stenson closed with a 69 to take those honors and entrench himself a little deeper at No. 2 in the world behind Rory McIlroy, who did not play this week.

Patrick Reed (68) and Bradley (70) tied for third.

Woods opened with a 77 and was in last place the rest of the tournament. He had not played since Aug. 9 at the PGA Championship, taking nearly four months off to strengthen his back muscles.

“I made some progress,” Woods said. “I hadn’t played in four months and I’m in absolutely no pain, which is nice. To be able to go all out on some of these drives like I did this week really enforces what I’m doing is the right thing for my body.”

Daytona, Fla. — Soo-Bin Kim could not carry over the momentum from her 65 a day earlier, but still earned fully exempt status on the 2015 LPGA Tour after carding a 3-over 75 in the final round of LPGA Q School Sunday.

The Coquitlam, B.C. resident struggled on the back nine of LPGA International’s Hills Course, going four-over par in her final four holes.  However, her eight birdies proved to be enough to keep her in the Top 20 and ensure her LPGA card for next season.

She finished the week in a tie for 11^th at -5.

Toronto’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham shot a 73 in Sunday’s finale and finished in a tie for 28^th with an overall score of -2 for the week.  Although she did not finish in the Top 20, the 2011 Canadian Women’s Amateur champion was able to secure conditional status on the 2015 circuit by finishing in the Top 45.

Failing to earn a spot for the 2015 tour were Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C. (+5, T58) and Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke Que (+5, T64).

SUN CITY, South Africa — Danny Willett spoiled Luke Donald’s birthday with a final-round 66 to charge past his English compatriot and win the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City by four shots on Sunday.

Willett claimed his second European Tour title ahead of Ross Fisher (68), while overnight leader Donald slipped to third in an all-English top three.

Willett had an impressive amateur career but had won just once on the tour – at the BMW International Open in 2012 – before his $1.25 million payday at the first event of the 2015 European season. The 27-year-old Willett made six birdies and no bogeys on the final day to finish with rounds of 65 and 66 over the weekend for an 18-under-par total of 270 at Gary Player Country Club.

The former top-ranked Donald, seeking a first title in more than a year, couldn’t quite celebrate his 37th birthday in style and ended with a 73 with four bogeys. He was six shots behind Willett.

Willett trailed Donald by one heading into the final round, but had overtaken his compatriot by No. 5, when Donald made his second bogey of the round after a wayward tee shot. Willett pounced with his third of six birdies on Sunday to move ahead and he led to the end.

Willett’s chasers had a glimpse of hope when he missed the green at No. 14, leaving himself with a tricky chip over a bunker back to the hole. But the former top-ranked European amateur recovered so well he still made birdie, and Fisher and Donald saw their hopes slip away. Willett entered the tournament as the No. 82-ranked player, but shoots to the top of the new European Order of Merit standings.

Behind Donald, Germany’s Marcel Siem was alone in fourth on 9 under, Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat was fifth and Spanish veteran Miguel Angel Jimenez completed a solid weekend with back-to-back 69s for sixth.

WINDERMERE, Fla. — Jordan Spieth rolled in a 50-foot birdie putt on the last hole to cap off a Saturday at the Hero World Challenge that was close to perfect.

Spieth opened with three straight birdies on his way to a 9-under 63 at Isleworth, matching the best score of the tournament. That gave the 21-year-old Texan a seven-shot lead over Keegan Bradley and Henrik Stenson going into the final round.

“This is the best I’ve played in a 54-hole stretch,” Spieth said.

He was at 20-under 196. Spieth said he has never been 20 under on any course through 54 holes, and he has never finished a tournament that many under par. That gave him a target for Sunday, when he goes after his second straight victory.

Spieth won six days ago halfway around the world at the Australian Open, where he closed with a 63 for six-shot victory.

Tournament host Tiger Woods was 20 shots behind and in dire need of his antibiotics taking effect. Woods lost his voice overnight and had nausea on the practice range and on the golf course. He felt slightly better at the end of his round when he made three straight birdies for a 69.

He remained in last place.

Bradley made four straight birdies around the turn on his way to a 65. He will play in the final group with Spieth.

“I’ve got to shoot a low one and get some help from Jordan,” said Bradley, who has not won in more than two years. “He’s such a good player. I don’t expect that. I’m going to have to shoot a really low one.”

Stenson, who played in the final group with Spieth on Saturday, recovered from a sluggish start with four birdies over his last eight holes for a 68.

Spieth made two big putts on the 18th hole.

He returned Saturday morning to finish his rain-delayed second round, chipped up to 5 feet and holed the par putt. He also watched Steve Stricker hit a putt from about 50 feet across the green, which came in handy later in the day.

Spieth had about the same putt, only going in the opposite direction of Stricker’s putt. That at least gave him an idea of the speed, though he had imagined a 3-foot circle around the hole that he would have accepted to walk off with par.

This turned out even better. The putt dropped for an unlikely birdie, and Spieth was all smiles walking off the green.

“I put my putter up, which usually means it will find a way to lip out,” Spieth said.

No chance on this day.

He opened with an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 1, got a good bounce with his 7-iron on the par-3 second to about 8 feet, and then made birdie on the par-3 third. After that, his iron play and his short game – always exquisite – were so good that he didn’t need to make any big putts.

Wrapping up his second full season as a pro, Spieth gets a new experience on Sunday – playing with a big lead.

“I’m still going to have to shoot under par to win,” he said.

Bradley will be chasing using the short putter, as he has done this week ahead of the Jan. 1, 2016, ban on the anchored stroke used for his belly putter. Bradley in the 2011 PGA Championship was the first player to win a major using a belly putter.

“I’ve had five years and hours and hours of practice that are now taken away from me,” he said. “But it’s fun to come out here and prove to everybody and myself that it’s not a big deal. This is probably the best three days of putting I’ve had in a couple of years.”

WINDERMERE, Fla. — Tiger Woods had his best score of the week and never felt worse Saturday in the Hero World Challenge.

Woods lost his voice overnight. He was nauseous on the practice range and when he took a swig of water on the first hole, he threw it up. He had a fever that finally broke on the front nine at Isleworth. And he closed with three straight birdies for a 3-under 69.

“It wasn’t easy and I fought hard,” Woods said. “That’s about all I had.”

It was enough to at least get back to even par for the tournament, though he remained in last place and was the only player not under par.

Woods hasn’t competed since Aug. 9 when he missed the cut at the PGA Championship, taking off nearly four months to build up strength so that his injured back would be fully healed. This is the only tournament he will play for about two months. The tournament benefits his foundation and learning centers, and it has a new sponsor.

What a time to get sick.

“That’s the way it goes,” Woods said.

He said he wouldn’t have withdrawn even if this were not his tournament. And it’s not like illness has never held him back. It was 11 years ago, and just down the road at Bay Hill, when Woods battled a nasty bout of food poisoning during the final round. He won by 11.

“I like to compete,” he said. “If I can go, I can go. I’ll give it everything I have. I wasn’t in pain. Just a little bit under the weather.”

Woods said he threw up before and during the round, and he probably wanted to vomit after a couple of more duffed chips, which have received plenty of attention this week. Woods stubbed two more chips on Saturday, bringing the total to eight chips that could only be described as shockingly bad.

Both led to bogey, and Woods appeared to be on his way to another mediocre score until the end. After the fever broke and he said his strength slowly started to return, Woods was pin-high on the par-4 16th with a 3-wood (the tees were moved forward) and made an 8-foot birdie. He hit the middle of the green on the par-5 17th with a fairway metal that never left its target and had a two-putt birdie. And with an 8-iron from 170, he stuffed it on No. 18 for a third straight birdie.

The best part of the day? Playing with Billy Horschel, they finished in just over three hours.

“We played fast, which was nice,” Woods said. “I didn’t have to sit out in that heat for too long.”

Daytona, Fla. — Soo-Bin Kim tied for low-round of the day and improved 29 spots with a masterful 7-under 65 at the LPGA qualifying final on Saturday, easily advancing to Sunday’s finale after the field narrowed to 70 golfers at +2.

The Coquitlam, B.C. resident made eight birdies in her penultimate round, including three on the last four holes, to jump into a five-way tie for 9th overall at -8.

Canadian-born golfers Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Samantha Richdale and Maude-Aimee Leblanc will join Kim for Sunday’s final at the LPGA International Hills Course.

Toronto’s Lee-Bentham, the 2011 Canadian Women’s Amateur champion, continued her solid play from earlier this week, carding an unblemished 2-under 70 and advancing into 32^nd place.

Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., who began the day in 11^th place, struggled in Rd. 4, making three bogeys and a double on her front nine en route to a 5-over 77, but still survived the field’s contraction.  She will tee off on Sunday tied for 54^th.

Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., who started Saturday’s round just outside of the cut line, played her way back into contention with a 2-under 70.  She finished in a tie for 68^th, one stroke ahead of the cutline.

Sue Kim of Langley, B.C. (T72), Augusta James of Bath, Ont. (T80) and Brittany Henderson of Smith Falls, Ont. (T80) all narrowly failed to advance by two strokes or less.

Also unable to qualify for Sunday’s final was Sara-Maude Juneau of Fossambault-Sur-Le-Lac, Que. (T99), who fell more than 50 spots on Saturday after going 7-over par on her final nine holes of the day.

Other Canadians in the field this week were Charlottetown’s Lorie Kane (T103), Nicole Vandermade of Brantford, Ont. (T109), Jennifer Kirby of Paris, Ont. (T117) and Brogan McKinnon of Mississauga, Ont. (T137).

SUN CITY, South Africa — Luke Donald birdied to the last hole for a 3-under 69 Saturday to hold on to a one-shot lead after the third round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Donald had been tied with Danny Willett on the leaderboard before his shot out of the rough and over some trees ended up within four feet of the pin on the last hole.

Donald moved to 13-under 203 overall to sit one shot ahead of Willett and three ahead of Ross Fisher, as Englishmen made up the top three at Sun City in the European Tour’s 2015 season-opener.

Willett surged into second after carding eight birdies and just one bogey for a 65. Fisher, the first round leader, is third after a 70.

The former top-ranked Donald didn’t match his blistering 63 on Friday, when he also had to deal with a charging baboon on the course, but is in position for his first title since late 2013 and his first on the European Tour for over two years.

“I really haven’t put myself in position very often in the last year,” Donald said. “So I’m excited to be in that position again. That’s why we work hard and that’s why we practice so much, and I’m excited for the challenge tomorrow.

While Donald has a good chance at his first Nedbank title, former Sun City champions and former No. 1s Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood struggled.

They are both tied for 24th in the 30-man field at 4 over, with Westwood slipping to a 78 on Saturday at Gary Player Country Club, where he holds the course record with a 62 in 2011. Westwood’s chip in from the bunker on No. 14 for an eagle did little to make up for his five bogeys and a triple-bogey 7 on No. 17.

Donald slipped up at Nos. 13 and 17 for his first bogeys since the sixth hole of his opening round. But he rolled in his birdie putt on 18 after the brilliant approach got him out of trouble and ensured he was the outright leader going into Sunday.

Marcel Siem is fourth, five shots behind Fisher and eight off Donald’s lead, while South African Louis Oosthuizen pushed up into a tie for fifth to give the home fans something to shout about.

Brendon Todd is the highest-placed American, but is still only tied for 17th after a 3-over 75. The high point of Todd’s day was his tee shot on No. 16, which rolled over the edge of the cup and was less than an inch away from the first hole-in-one on No. 16 in the 33-year history of the tournament.

WINDERMERE, Fla. — The guy in a red shirt put on quite a show Friday in the Hero World Challenge to get into contention.

That was Patrick Reed – and Tiger Woods watched it all.

Reed, playing alongside Woods at Isleworth, was 8 under through 10 holes and wound up with a 9-under 63 in the second round, which was delayed 90 minutes by heavy rain. Jordan Spieth elected not to finish his round in darkness, mainly because he had a tough chip short of the 18th green and couldn’t see the flag from 30 feet away.

Spieth was at 11 under, two shots ahead of Henrik Stenson, who had a 68.

Reed was another shot back, along with Justin Rose.

He became the third player this year to shoot a 63 while playing with Woods.

“I never played with Tiger before, besides a practice round at the British,” Reed said. “It was good to finally be able to play with him, especially in competition. It was a lot of fun. We had a good time. I felt like we enjoyed ourselves out there, and luckily I played well.”

Woods was better that his opening 77, except for a sour ending because of another flubbed chip.

Woods was making progress toward his goal of getting back to even par for the tournament. He hit a 5-iron out of the rough to 4 feet for eagle on the par-5 13th, followed with a flip wedge into 3 feet for birdie on the 14th, and he hit another wedge to 5 feet for birdie on the 16th.

But after the rain, Woods had mud on his ball in the fairway and could only smile as it sailed left and long of the green. What followed was another bad chip – that’s six already in two rounds – that traveled only about 10 feet. He wound up with a double bogey for a 70. He remained in last place, 14 shots behind Spieth.

“It’s not very good,” Woods said of his short game.

The best golf in the group came from Reed, who grew up trying to pattern his game after Woods, even down to the wardrobe. He always wears black trousers and a red shirt on Sunday, the ensemble Woods has made famous on his way to 79 PGA Tour wins and 14 majors. Every now and then, Reed likes to wear black and red on Friday.

This was a good time for that.

Reed wasn’t even sure he would be in the tournament until Jim Furyk withdrew last week. And if there was ever a time to get excited about opening with a 73, this would be the occasion. It meant Reed would be paired with Woods, in the first group out.

Reed opened with three straight birdies. He rolled in a 40-foot eagle putt on the seventh, and he went out in 29 after making a 15-foot birdie putt at No. 9.

After his 7-foot birdie putt at No. 10, Reed even began “thinking in the 50s,” though that ended quickly. With a sand wedge from the rough, his ball came back off a hill behind the 12th green with so much steam that Reed begged it to “hit the microphone.” That would have been the only thing to keep it from rolling into the water, and it missed. He made bogey.

Rory McIlroy shot a 63 with Woods in the opening round at Dubai this year (Woods shot 68). Spieth played with Woods at Torrey Pines and shot 63 on the North Course (Woods shot a 71).

Woods is playing for the first time since Aug. 9 at the PGA Championship. He took nearly four months off to strengthen his muscle structure, and during the time away, he hired a new swing coach.

His swing looks fine. His short game does not.

And that’s why Reed didn’t read too much into a seven-shot advantage over Woods in their first pairing.

“He had a couple of loose shots here and there, but he knows what he’s doing,” Reed said. “When was the last time he played a competitive tournament? It’s been awhile.”

That’s not the case for Spieth or Stenson.

Spieth won by six shots last week in the Australian Open. Stenson won the World Tour Championship in Dubai the week before.

Stenson had the lead after his sixth birdie at No. 13. But he make bogey on the 15th and 16th and had to settle for a 68.

“You’re not winning anything on Friday,” he said. “We’re still at the races.”

And that’s what the final hour resembled – a race.

With the rain delay, it was a push for everyone to finish.

Spieth figured the horn would have sounded when he was on the 16th hole in a regular tournament. They pressed on, but when his approach to the 18th came up just short, caddie Michael Greller talked him out of playing a delicate chip into the grain with a muddy lie.

“It was a good idea to hit that pitch tomorrow,” Spieth said.

Daytona, Fla. — Kelowna’s Samantha Richdale could not ride the momentum of her 2^nd round 66, carding a 2-over 74 at the LPGA final qualifier on Friday.

The Calgary native only made two bogeys during her round, but was unable to record a birdie after draining eight at LPGA International one day earlier.  She will begin play on Saturday in a tie for 11th overall.

Tied for 34th spot are Toronto’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham and Soo-Bin Kim, a resident of Coquitlam, B.C.  Lee-Bentham improved 10 spots with her round of 71, while Kim dropped nine places after shooting a 1-over 73, her first round of over par golf this week.

Just a few spots back of Lee-Bentham and Kim are Sara-Maude Juneau of Fossambault-Sur-Le-Lac, Que. (T40) and Sue Kim of Langley, B.C. (T48).

Augusta James, a native of Bath, Ont. and Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que. finished in a tie for 78th at +4, while Ontario natives Jennifer Kirby (Paris) and Brittany Henderson (Smiths Falls) share the 92nd position.

Brogan McKinnon of Mississauga, Ont. (T111) and Nicole Vandermade of Brantford, Ont. (T128) both shot 74s in their 3rd rounds, while Charlottetown’s Lorie Kane improved 11 spots into a tie for 134th with a 1-under 73.